Celery is on the list of superfoods and belongs to the family of parsley. The reason is that celery contains a large number of essential nutrients and minerals. However, can you feed this superfood to your pet birds? Can birds eat celery? Let’s explore this idea and if you are interested to know about this, then go through this article.
However, birds can eat celery, and they also like to eat it. As celery consists of a sufficient amount of fibers, several vitamins like K and C.
Not only this but celery has a sufficient amount of antioxidants, flavonoids. That’s why not only does celery fall on the list of a superfood but it is beneficial to birds and us also.
However, before offering celery to birds, remove its stings or cut in small pieces. As, stings of celery cause crop impaction in birds if they eat them.
Moreover, try not to give celery as their primary food part as an excess of every good thing is terrible.
However, celery may not favorite to many people worldwide, but it can serve good nutritionist value to your birds. That’s why I’m going to list all the facts about how you can feed them celery and in which amount. So let’s start.
Can Birds Eat Celery?
Birds can surely eat celery, and it is also beneficial to birds. However, you wonder to know that birds also like to eat celery. So why not you give them as a treat for their good doings.
However, birds are omnivorous and can eat fruits, vegetables, seeds, insects, etc. So, if we have a pet bird, we keep in mind that making their food full of nutrients is necessary.
And for that, make sure to add fruits, vegetables, insects, etc., to their food. So that they can get proper nutrition as a deficiency on nutrition’s fatal for them.
Nutritional Value of Celery:
Celery is famous because of its nutritional value. As it contains a lot of essential nutrients. So let’s have a look at all these nutrients and their benefits for birds and us also.
Vitamin C:
Celery can provide you with a fair amount of vitamin C as one cup of celery has 3.72 mg of vitamin C. Vitamin C is necessary for humans and birds in many ways. As it is helpful to control sugar levels in the blood.
Moreover, vitamin C is compulsory to maintain cholesterol levels and also helps in healing wounds quickly. Furthermore, vitamin C is helpful to reduce the risk of kidney diseases.
Vitamin A:
Deficiency of vitamin A in birds leads to several problems as breathing issues, poor eyesight, weak immune system. Moreover, vitamin A deficiency affects the feathers color of birds. However, it is the most noticeable symptom of the deficiency of vitamin A.
Furthermore, many people have pet birds, but they think that seeds will be enough for their food. This is unacceptable as only seeds as a major part of bird’s food doesn’t fulfill their essential nutritional needs. And such birds are commonly deficient in vitamin A.
Vitamin K And Calcium:
As, both vitamin K and calcium are necessary for strong bones in birds. And their deficiency leads to weak, brittle bones in birds. So not only birds but vitamin K and calcium are essential for our bones also.
However, vitamin K is also helpful for birds to stop bleeding during injury. Moreover, calcium and vitamin K is essential for the bird to lay eggs as eggshell made of calcium. So birds need calcium more during their period of laying eggs.
Potassium:
To reduce stress levels in birds, potassium plays a vital role in bird’s life. Potassium helps reduce stress levels, but it also helps keep blood pressure at an average level.
Dangers of Celery to Birds:
Being superfood celery rich in several essential minerals and nutrients, but if you want to make it a significant part of their food, you have to rethink it. As, excess celery can be dangerous to birds in the following ways.
However, celery is nutrients rich and can fulfill a major part of the nutrition of birds. But excess of every good thing is bad. And the same goes for celery.
As stringiness of celery can cause trouble for your pet. Because, if you give an excessive amount of celery to birds, these string can block their digestive path. And this issue is also known as crop impaction. However, in severe cases, crop impaction can be fatal for birds.
Secondly, celery is full of several essential nutrients but not all that a bird need to fulfill their daily tasks. For example, celery has a low amount of calories which can cause weight loss in birds if you feed them as their primary food part.
Thirdly, I want to highlight that celery is also on the list of foods that have more pesticides. According to a study, celery contains typically 13 different types of pesticides. And they can be fatal for birds if they eat such celery in excessive amounts.
However, if you want to feed celery to your birds, then make sure that you wash it properly and then chop it into small pieces. So that birds can eat it without any trouble. However, again, I want to tell you that celery is a significant part of their food.
Ways of Feeding Celery to Birds:
However, there are few dangers to eat celery to birds, but as we know that celery is a superfood. That’s why we can add it to ours bird diet. For that, I have different ways that are suitable for feeding celery to birds.
Firstly, to avoid crop impaction, you have to shop celery into fine slices. So that birds can digest easily without getting into trouble.
Secondly, you can make a fruit smoothie for your birds with celery and other fruits. As this smoothie will give your birds a nutritional treat.
However, as celery contains lots of pesticides, make sure to wash it properly before serving it to birds.
Read also: Can Birds Eat Chia Seeds ?
Alternative Food That You Can Feed to Birds:
Not only celery but you can feed several other vegetables also. As vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, you must add them to your bird’s food.
In vegetables, you can feed cabbage, collard greens, and kale. However, these vegetables are enriching in vitamins A, C, and K. Moreover, vegetables are a good source of fiber. As fiber is necessary for birds also as it helps to avoid constipation.
In fruits, you can feed watermelon, pineapple, cucumber, berries, etc. As fruits are also enriching in nutrients, you should have to add them to bird’s food. Thus, food is an integral part of a bird’s life.
In seeds, you can feed them different kinds of seeds as, cooked peas, beans, corn etc.
However, many of us saw that birds would be okay if we only feed them seeds. Or just one food regularly. But this is not the way.
As, birds need all essential nutrients for a healthy life. And a minor change in their food can lead to severe nutrients deficiency in them and can be fatal for them.
That’s why try to give them mixed food consist of vegetables, fruits, and seeds also. So that they can get proper nutrients and live a healthy life.
Final Words:
Can birds eat celery? Yes-birds can eat celery. Celery is a superfood as it is enriching in nutrients. And can give you and your bird a bunch of nutrients.
So that’s why you can feed celery to birds. But keep in mind that doesn’t make celery a significant part of their food. As celery contain a lot of pesticides and thus can harm birds.